Flanked by halos of coloured light that pulsate along with the beat, Polmo Polpo spirals through a spectacular 30-minute version of "Kiss Me Again and Again". Incredibly, he starts off with a sparse, stoic crowd and succeeds in getting almost everyone to dance and funk out to disco laced with the ambient bleeping chaos of a dozen cosmic video arcades. Never mind all this, just go see the guy next time he plays because after five years of this (this was my eighth PP gig), I'm running out of superlatives.
Met by twinking organ drones and guitar fuzz, my first thought is that Off the International Radar aspire to be the shoegaze-inflected Inspiral Carpets. Despite my love for both the Carpets and the 'gaze, the combination would be absolutely horrid. Fortunately, things don't head down that road ... instead, muscular Can-like drumming and noisy one-chord jams make this a lot closer to Reich's "Four Organs" gone the way of Caribou's live show, rather than Madchester with louder guitars. Thankfully.
It's funny, earlier in the day I was remarking how silly bands can look when they play two minute treble-laden rock songs while girls engage in off-key shrieking. The topic of discussion was Sleater-Kinney and the narrow line they walk. The Peppermints are of a thrash and hardcore bent, but none of this is enough to make me stick around watching them for very long.
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